Interview with Jay Bishoff: Post Bali Bomb tourist-part VII

Baliblog: Let me ask you a question. You are from the USA. Why couldn't you have moved to another beautiful part of that country, somewhere like Salt Lake City where a version of Christianity is very much to the fore and experience the people and the religion in a supermarket there?

Jay: You can.

Baliblog: And why is that not attractive to you?

Jay: I've done it. I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like in Christian America, I've lived in the South.

Baliblog: Okay so you've been all over the country, but what vibe do you get there that is different?

Jay: Well my attitude is I've done it in America. You and I have travelled all over the US. I have hitch hiked with Mormon families, lived in the Bible Belt, I've travelled extensively in Europe and felt the aftermath of Christian Europe. So for me it was interesting to come through Asia. So what do I feel here? Well to me in the US, I feel a sad puppy if you want to talk religion. I feel a dead spirituality.

Baliblog: Now let me ask you a question. Those people who go to church every Sunday feel strongly that they believe in their religion, if you speak to them they will tell you the religion is alive and well in them.

Jay: That's right. Well they feel it, but I'm not feeling it. I'm not judging their experience, I'm just saying I'm not feeling it. There is a Van Morrison song 'I'm not feeling it anymore' and that's what happened to me. I'm not feeling that the spirituality is living and progressive and open, but I do feel it here. That may sound like idealization, but what I am saying is that something is working for a lot of people. For example you don't have a big problem with stealing here do you, I don't think?